ATOMIC STRUGGLE

9「threat」1

"Now I'm certain everyone is here, besides Magne, but I've never brought her here," Giran said as Izak turned to go open the door. This time, Mihoko did not try and beat him to the door, instead favouring to stay on Shinso's lap and clutch at his shirt. 

Dabi burning her wand had startled her quite a bit, and even though she was trying not to show it, the eight year old was shaking slightly. Hitoshi wrapped his arms around her, holding her to his chest and glaring over at Dabi, who either didn't notice or didn't care. 

At the door, Izak unlocked the top lock, which definitely hadn't been locked before so Dabi must have done it when he had closed the door behind himself. Opening the door, the maroonette raised an eyebrow. "I don't think we had an appointment today."

"We don't," Bakugo answered. He was standing in front of Izak wearing a black shirt with a white skull on it, and black pants. His hands were in the pockets, and even though he was shifting his weight like he was nervous, his face didn't show that he was nervous. "I just came to check in on you, since I haven't seen you since the attack."

"Attack?" Toga's voice came from further inside the house, causing the blonde boy to pause. Sure, he might have expected Mihoko's voice to join the conversation at some point, probably telling him to get lost for some reason or other, but Bakugo definitely wasn't expecting a girl's voice that he didn't know. He would have understood if it was one of their classmates, but that didn't sound like anyone he knew. "Was that what made you come back early?" the girl finally came into sight, draping herself on Izak and immediately making Bakugo dislike her. 

"Didn't know you were straight."

"I'm not," Izak replied, which made both Bakugo and Toga blink. "I'm aroace."

"...That makes sense, no wonder you didn't react to any of my advances," Toga pouted, then groaned and leaned against Izak more. "Oh well, guess this is better. If it was any other way, I dunno what I would do," She said, looking down and licking her lips. 

"That's creepy as fuck, now get off of him while I'm asking nicely," Bakugo threatened, causing the blonde girl to make an aghast noise. 

"Uh, that's mean. Are you, by chance.." She trailed off, her lips curling upwards as her hand partially covered her mouth almost provokingly bringing more attention to her expression. "Jealous?"

"No," Bakugo said levelly, shoving past her. The action made her let go of Izak, which they all noted but didn't comment on as the explosive blonde made his way into the living room. At the door, though, he stopped and narrowed his eyes. "Izak," He addressed, and the severity of his voice made the maroonette raise his eyebrows. The look on Bakugo's face as he turned ever so slightly to gaze at him was much worse. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"About what?" Izak was stumped. 

"I've been keeping track of crimes recently, after the attack, just to see if I could find anything helpful," Bakugo revealed, but Izak wasn't really following as to why what he had just brought up was relevant. "I dug up a bunch of things, but they were all dead ends, at least for the attack. Now I'm glad I did all that research," He faced him fully, glaring like he had done something unforgivable. "Why the hell are you hanging out with villains?"

"Huh?" Now Izak was deadpanning. What is he on about? 

"Don't huh me, Izak. That one," Bakugo jabbed his thumb behind him towards Giran. "Is a well known mediator for villains trying to find support gear and groups. The only reason he's C-ranked is because he's so slippery, the police haven't been able to catch him. Don't even get me started on the one in the spandex. Apparently he can duplicate himself and used that to go on robbing sprees, but he's been quiet for a few years now. And him," There was venom in his tone as he snarled the pronoun, glaring over at Dabi, who had a lazy smirk on his face. "That piece of shit has been going around burning people to ashes. I don't know who those other two are, but they look like villains," He sneered. "I can't believe this, I need to call Mister Aizawa."

Izak didn't respond, too busy blinking in confusion as Bakugo stalked past him. Alright, he knew that Dabi was doing some questionable things, but he seriously didn't know about the others. Giran, a villain? But he was so nice, upbeat and helpful. Plus, he was a business man, what was villainous about wanting his business to go well? And Twice, a villain? Sure, he had mental problems, but that didn't mean he was a villain. Compress and Spinner didn't seem like villains either. It just didn't make sense to Izak, not at all. 

As Izak was processing everything, Shinso deposited Mihoko next to him on the three-seater couch before standing up and speed walking after the explosive blonde. Right before Toga could get to him and before he could open the door, Shinso grabbed Bakugo's arm, spun him around and shoved him against the door. "How dare you?" 

"How dare you? You and Mihoko were supposed to keep Izak out of trouble, and now you're stopping me from getting him out of it?" He snarled, his hands lighting up with small explosions. "Get the fuck out of my way before I murder you."

"I'm stopping you because you're about to get Izak in more trouble than you can imagine," Shinso snarled right back, which caught the explosive blonde off guard. Shinso knew that right now, brainwashing Bakugo wasn't a good idea. It might solve the problem temporarily, but the second Bakugo got free, he would report what he had found immediately. So, he needed to talk him out of it, and he knew that the best language to do that with was yelling. 

"Don't mix things up, you piece of shit. If you know what's good for Izak, you'll back the fuck off--" Bakugo shoved him off, but Shinso just grabbed the blonde's collar and pulled them so they were eye-to-eye. 

"Izak can decide what's good for himself, I don't decide that because I'm his friend."

"Like I'm not?" Bakugo glared right back at the purplette, grabbing his collar as well. Shinso didn't back down though. 

"No, you're not. You use Izak when he's convenient, have him train you, take advantage of his powers and keep him shackled without a thought. You are not his friend. At the very least," Shinso slapped the hand on his collar away and stepped back, readjusting his clothes so they weren't too crumpled. Then he reasserted eye contact. "A true friend doesn't rat out their friend, no matter the situation."

"I'm not--"

"YOU KNOW THE MOMENT IZAK GETS CAUGHT DOING ANYTHING EVEN SLIGHTLY WRONG, THEY'RE GOING TO LOCK HIM UP AND FUCKING EXECUTE HIM!" Shinso snapped, and Bakugo stood there stunned. "Every government in the world voted to put him under Eraserhead's charge so that they could try and train Izak to go down the path of good, but they're still scared shitless of him. If they think he's irredeemable, they'll put him down without a second thought. Do not give them the chance. Do not just think about yourself and how righteous you think you're being. If you make that call," Shinso's eyes were shaking as tears pricked at them, but he kept staring right at Bakugo's red, startled eyes. "You're basically killing Izak yourself."

It was silent for a time, neither of the teens looking away from the other until suddenly, there was a crunching noise. Both of them whipped to look at the living room door, finding Toga and Mihoko sitting on the floor, eating popcorn. "Keep going, it was getting really good," Toga encouraged. 

"You--" Bakugo growled, but stopped with a flinch as Shinso held a hand up. 

"For now, go back home and sleep on it, then come back tomorrow and join us," Shinso suggested. The blonde boy narrowed his eyes distrustfully. "We're continuing the Power Puff Girls marathon then. I would ask you to stay now, but we're pretty worked up already--"

"Fine," Bakugo spat, grabbing the door handle and yanking it open. "I'll be back to finish this tomorrow, so watch yourself. And you," He looked over Shinso's shoulder at those in the living room. "You better not fucking run away, or else." With that, he walked out and slammed the door behind him. 

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